Sea of Faith Christchurch Group

The best analysis I’ve seen of Pope Benedict is here: http://www.alternet.org/story/41920/pope_benedict%3A_the_first_year. Although it only deals with the first year of his reign, it is a solid analysis with lots of significant information.

The media are reporting a change in the Church of England’s position on gay bishops. Gay clergy in civil partnerships are evidently already allowed, provided they promise to be celibate (!). The House of Bishops has now extended the same permission to bishops. Although this is really a millimeter shift in position compared with the kilometer shift needed to accept practicing gay men as clergy and bishops, it has triggered a howl of protest from the conservative wing of the church and initiated yet another round of controversy (remember the Lambeth Conference 1998). Continue Reading »

I’ve just watched Nigel Latta’s excellent documentary on Bert Potter and the Centrepoint community. In a mix of archival footage, revealing comments by Potter himself, interviews with members and ex-members of the community, and commentary by Nigel Latta , it shows how what began as a therapeutic community became controlling and manipulative, what began as a movement of sexual liberation for consenting adults turned into exploitation of children to satisfy adults’ sexual needs. What began drug-free ended up manufacturing, using, and selling drugs. Continue Reading »

Last Friday, we saw a demonstration on how to create posts on our website.

On Wednesday, I ventured into the halls of academia to hear Douglas Pratt’s Fulbright Lecture on the “The Persistence and Problem of Religion.” I hadn’t seen him since about 1988 when we were both University Chaplains. It was good to see that he has made his way in the academic world and evidently feels at home in his role.

While secularisation theory predicted the inevitable decline and eventual end of religion, religion persists and may even be on the increase. Doug explored this continuing role of religion. NZ as a secular society did not intend to exclude religion. Rather, it aimed to have a level playing field for all religions, in a nominally Christian context. What we have today, however, is a tendency to airbrush religion out of things, not to acknowledge and understand that there is a religious aspect to major political events, or, worse, to crudely reject a religious value system. Continue Reading »